††††† NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND
CONFORMITY: KRS 150.720(1) and 246.295(1) require the Department of Agriculture
in cooperation with the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources to promulgate
administrative regulations pertaining to health requirements, eradication of
diseases, and identification of privately-owned and farm-raised cervids
maintained for the production of meat and other products. This administrative
regulation establishes criteria and health requirements necessary to prevent
the introduction of chronic wasting disease into Kentucky and develop a herd
monitoring system, and establishes requirements for intrastate and interstate
movement of farmed cervids.

††††† Section 1. Definitions. (1)
"Adjacent herd" means a:

††††† (a) Herd of cervids occupying premises
that border a positive herd, including herds separated by roads or streams; or

††††† (b) Herd of cervids occupying premises
that were previously occupied by a positive herd within the past five (5)
years.

††††† (2) "Animal" means any farmed
cervid.

††††† (3) "Animal identification"
means a device or means of animal identification approved for use under this
administrative regulation by the State veterinarian.

††††† (4) "APHIS" means the Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of
Agriculture.

††††† (5) "Approved laboratory" means
the National Veterinary Service Laboratory, Ames, Iowa, or any other laboratory
approved by the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

††††† (6) "Certified" means the
status achieved by a herd that has met the standards of the CWD HCP
continuously for at least five (5) years.

††††† (7) "Certified CWD herd" means
a herd of cervids that has achieved "Certified" status in the
Kentucky HCP, the federal Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certification Program,
or a state Chronic Wasting Disease Certification Program approved by APHIS or
the Kentucky State veterinarian.

††††† (8) "Cervid" means deer, elk,
moose, caribou, reindeer, and related species and hybrids thereof, including
all members of the Cervidae family and hybrids thereof.

††††† (9) "Cervid CWD Surveillance and
Identification" or "CCWDSI" means a Cervid Management Plan that
includes two (2) programs:

††††† (11) "CWD exposed animal" means
an animal that is part of a CWD-positive herd, or that has been exposed to a
CWD-positive animal or contaminated premises within the previous five (5)
years.

††††† (12) "CWD exposed herd" means a
herd in which a CWD positive animal has resided within five (5) years prior to
that animalís diagnosis as CWD positive, as determined by an APHIS or state
representative.

††††† (13) "CWD Herd Certification
Program" or "HCP" means a program established by this administrative
regulation to determine the CWD status of farmed cervid herds.

††††† (14) "CWD Herd Monitoring
Program" or "HMP" means a program established by this
administrative regulation to monitor farmed cervids in harvesting facilities
for CWD.

††††† (15) "CWD positive animal"
means an animal that has had a diagnosis of CWD confirmed by means of two (2)
official CWD tests.

††††† (16) "CWD positive herd" means
a herd in which a CWD positive animal resided when it was diagnosed and which
has not been released from quarantine.

††††† (17) "CWD source herd" means a
herd that is identified through testing, tracebacks, or epidemiological
evaluations to be the source of CWD-positive animals identified in other herds.

††††† (18) "CWD suspect animal" means
an animal for which an APHIS or state representative has determined that
unofficial CWD tests results, laboratory evidence, or clinical signs suggest a
diagnosis of CWD, but for which official laboratory results are inconclusive or
not yet conducted.

††††† (19) "CWD suspect herd" means a
herd for which unofficial CWD test results, laboratory evidence or clinical
signs suggest a diagnosis of CWD as determined by an APHIS employee or state
representative, but for which official laboratory results have been
inconclusive or not yet conducted.

††††† (20) "Farmed cervid" means
cervid livestock that are enrolled in a CCWDSI program and are maintained for
propagation, selling, trade, or barter or for taking by any harvest or
slaughter method. Farmed cervid shall exclude any cervid that has not
originated from and been continuously maintained within a herd that is enrolled
in and complies with a CWD certified or monitored program.

††††† (21) "Harvest" means to take or
kill farmed cervids for meat and other products.

††††† (22) "Herd" means a group of
cervids that are:

††††† (a) Under common ownership or supervision
and are grouped on one (1) or more parts of any single premises (lot, farm, or
ranch); or

††††† (b) Under common ownership or supervision
on two (2) or more premises which are geographically separated but on which
animals have been interchanged or had direct or indirect contact with one
another.

††††† (a) Developed by APHIS in collaboration
with the herd owner, state representatives, and other affected parties; and

††††† (b) Which sets out the steps to be taken
to eradicate CWD from a CWD positive herd, to control the risk of CWD in a
CWD-exposed or CWD-suspect herd, or to prevent introduction of CWD into that
herd or any other herd.

††††† (a) Approved by the Deputy Administrator
of Veterinary Services, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, United
States Department of Agriculture, and the State veterinarian, in accordance
with 9 C.F.R. Part 161, to perform functions required by cooperative
state-federal animal disease control and eradication programs; and

††††† (b) Who is licensed to practice in the
Commonwealth of Kentucky under KRS Chapter 321.

††††† (26) "Official animal
identification" means a device or means of animal identification approved
for use under 9 C.F.R. Part 55 by APHIS and the state veterinarian to uniquely
identify individual animals.

††††† (27) "Official CWD test" means
any test for the diagnosis of CWD approved by APHIS and conducted in a
laboratory approved by APHIS in accordance with 9 C.F.R. Part 55.

††††† (28) "Quarantine" means an
imposed restriction prohibiting movement of live or dead cervids or parts
thereof to any location without specific written approval of the State
veterinarian.

††††† (29) "State" means any state of
the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin
Islands, or Guam.

††††† Section 2. CCWDSI Surveillance Programs.
All farmed cervid herds shall be enrolled in one (1) of the state CCWDSI
programs, either the CWD Herd Certification Program (HCP) or the CWD Herd Monitoring
Program (HMP) maintained by the Office of the State Veterinarian. The HCP and
the HMP require annual renewal.

††††† Section 3. HCP Requirements. Herds
enrolled in this program shall meet the requirements provided in Sections 3
through 5 of this administrative regulation and the requirements in 9 C.F.R.
Part 55, Subpart B. (1) Animal identification requirement.

††††† (a) All animals twelve (12) months of age
and older shall have at least two (2) forms of animal identification, one (1) of
which shall be an official animal identification and one (1) form that is a visual
(flop tag) type of identification, which shall be unique to that animal within
the herd.

††††† (b) All animals of any age shall have
official animal identification before being moved from the premises for any
purpose.

††††† (2) The herd premises shall have a valid
KDFWR permit and perimeter fencing that is approved by KDFWR pursuant to KRS
150.730 through 150.735.

††††† (3) The herd veterinarian shall be
notified within twenty-four (24) hours of observance of an animal with clinical
signs suggestive of CWD.

††††† (4) The owner shall report to the Office
of State veterinarian all animals that escape or disappear, and all deaths
(including animals killed by harvest or slaughter) of animals in the herd aged
twelve (12) months or older.

††††† (a) The reporting time frame shall be:

††††† 1. For animals that escape or disappear,
a report shall be made within forty-eight (48) hours;

††††† 2. For animals taken by harvest or
slaughter, a report shall be submitted by the last day of each calendar month;
and

††††† 3. For animals that die from illness or
unknown reason, a report shall be submitted within seven (7) days.

††††† (b) The report shall include all animal
identification numbers and the estimated time and date of the death,
disappearance, escape, slaughter, or killing of the animal.

††††† (c) Animals that die or are killed by
harvest or slaughter shall have the required tissue specimens collected for CWD
testing except as exempted by 9 C.F.R. 55.23.

††††† (d) In accordance with 9 C.F.R. 55.23, an
APHIS or state representative shall investigate herds that fail to comply with
testing requirements and shall evaluate the herdís status.

††††† (5) The owner shall maintain and provide
to the State Veterinarian or APHIS representative upon request the following
herd records:

††††† (a) Complete inventory of animals
including the official identification number and any other identification, and
the age and sex of each animal;

††††† (b) A record for each purchased or
natural addition to the herd including:

††††† 1. The official identification number,
species, age, and sex of the cervid;

††††† 2. The name and address of the person
from whom the cervid was purchased;

††††† 3. The address of the herd from which the
cervid was purchased;

††††† 4. A copy of the Certificate of
Veterinary Inspection that accompanied the animal for intra- or interstate
movement;

††††† 5. Date the purchased addition entered
the herd; and

††††† 6. Approximate date of birth if a natural
addition;

††††† (c) A record of each cervid leaving the
herd including:

††††† 1. If the cervid was shipped live other
than to slaughter, the date of movement, the name of the person to whom it was
shipped, the place to which it was shipped, and a copy of the Certificate of
Veterinary Inspection related to the shipment;

††††† 2. If the cervid died on the premises,
the date of death, the apparent cause of death, the cervid's age, sex, and
state-federal official individual animal identification, date and laboratory
submitted for CWD testing, if required, and the disposition of the cervid's
carcass. If the carcass left the premises, the record shall identify the
carcass destination and recipient;

††††† 3. If the cervid was shipped to
slaughter, the date of movement, the cervid's age, sex, and state-federal
official individual animal identification, and the name and address of the
slaughter establishment;

††††† 4. If the cervid was killed by harvest,
the date, the name and address of the hunter, and the disposition of the
carcass; or

††††† 5. If the cervid escaped, the date of
escape;

††††† (d) A record of all individual animal
tests conducted on cervids in the herd;

††††† (e) Records received from the herd veterinarian
related to veterinary services provided to the herd; and

††††† (a) To enroll a herd in the HCP, the
owner shall conduct a physical inventory of all animals to establish the
baseline herd inventory. The physical inventory shall be conducted with a
representative of the office of the State Veterinarian and shall verify all
animal identification and records.

††††† (b) An annual herd inventory shall be
conducted that reviews all records and includes observation of all animals in
an enclosed area including physical restraint if necessary to reconcile all
visible identification devices with available records.

††††† (c) The state veterinarian or APHIS
representative may request additional physical inventories to verify herd
compliance with program standards.

††††† (d) The owner shall be responsible for
assembling, handling, and restraining the animals and for all costs incurred to
present the animals for inspection.

††††† (7) Maintenance of separate herds by the
same owner shall comply with 9 C.F.R. 55.23.

††††† (8) The herd enrollment date is the date
which is the latter of:

††††† (a) The physical inventory being
completed in accordance with subsection (6)(a) of this section; and

††††† (b) The application being approved by the
state veterinarian.

††††† (9) Surveillance procedures for the HCP.
(a) HCP Certified Herds. Cervids twelve (12) months and older that die for any
reason except slaughter or harvest shall be made available for tissue sampling
and testing in accordance with instructions from the APHIS or state representative.

††††† (b) Non-certified HCP Herds. Cervids
twelve (12) months of age or older that die for any reason including slaughter
or harvest shall be made available for tissue sampling and testing in
accordance with instructions from the APHIS or state representative.

††††† (c) All animals in an enrolled herd shall
have official identification before reaching the age of twelve (12) months.

††††† Section 4. HCP Permit. (1) A HCP permit
shall be required to participate in the program. A HCP permit is valid for one
(1) calendar year from the date of enrollment. The applicant shall submit the
following:

††††† (a) A permit application contained in the
CCWDSI Herd Certification Program and Herd Monitoring Program application
packet;

††††† (b) A written statement by a Kentucky
licensed and accredited veterinarian, certifying that the veterinarian and the
herd owner have a valid veterinarian-client relationship; and

††††† (c) A fee of $150.

††††† (2) The department shall grant or deny a
permit within thirty (30) days after the department receives the completed
application package with the required fee.

††††† (3) After the permit is issued, the
participant shall enroll his herd into the HCP as follows:

††††† (a) Conduct the physical inventory
required by Section 3(6) of this administrative regulation; and

††††† (b) Provide any records of the animals to
the state veterinarian.

††††† (4) Herd status levels. (a) When a herd
is first enrolled in the HCP, it shall be placed in first-year status, except
that if the herd is comprised solely of animals obtained from herds already enrolled
in the HCP, the newly enrolled herd shall have the same status as the lowest
status of any herd that provided animals for the herd.

††††† (b) If a herd continues to meet the
requirements of the HCP, the herd status shall be upgraded by one (1) year on
the program enrollment date.

††††† (c) One (1) year from the date a herd is
placed in fifth-year status, the herd status shall be changed to "certified".
The herd shall remain in "certified" status as long as it is enrolled
in the program, if its status is not revoked or suspended in accordance with
this administrative regulation or 9 C.F.R. 55.24.

††††† (d) Herds currently enrolled in the
CCDWSI program shall be aligned to the appropriate status level provided in 9
C.F.R. 55.24.

††††† (e) A herd owner shall be issued a
certificate of "Certified" status upon complying with the HCP
Program, as defined in this administrative regulation.

††††† (f) Renewal of a Certified Cervid Herd. A
herd is certified for twelve (12) months. For continuous certification,
adherence to the provisions in this administrative regulation and all other
state laws and administrative regulations pertaining to holding cervids shall
be required.

††††† (g) A herd's certification status shall
be immediately revoked and a herd investigation shall be initiated, if CWD
positive or exposed animals are found in the herd.

††††† (5) New animals shall only be introduced
into the herd from other herds enrolled in the Kentucky HCP or a state Chronic
Wasting Disease Certification Program approved by the Kentucky State Veterinarian
or the Federal CWD Certification Program.

††††† (a) If animals are introduced from a herd
of lower status, the receiving herd status shall revert to the lower status.

††††† (b) If animals are introduced from a herd
not participating in a certification program, the receiving herd shall revert
to first-year status in the certification program.

††††† (5) The herd veterinarian shall be
notified within twenty-four (24) hours of observance of an animal with clinical
signs suggestive of CWD.

††††† (6) The owner shall report to the office
of state veterinarian all animals that escape or disappear, and all deaths (including
animals killed by harvest) of animals in the herd aged twelve (12) months or
older.

††††† (a) The reporting time frame shall be:

††††† 1. For animals that escape or disappear,
a report shall be made within forty-eight (48) hours;

††††† 2. For animals taken by harvest, a report
shall be submitted by the last day of each calendar month; and

††††† 3. For animals that die from illness or
unknown reason, a report shall be submitted within seven (7) days.

††††† (b) The report shall include all animal
identification numbers and the estimated time and date of the disappearance,
escape, or killing of the animal.

††††† (c) Animals twelve (12) months of age or
older that die or are killed by harvest shall have the required tissue
specimens collected for CWD testing and submitted to an approved laboratory.

††††† (d) In accordance with 9 C.F.R. 55.23, an
APHIS or representative of the state veterinarian shall investigate herds that
fail to comply with testing requirements and shall evaluate the herdís status.

††††† (7) The owner shall maintain and provide
to the state veterinarian or APHIS representative upon request the following
herd records:

††††† (a) Census of animals including the
official identification number and any other identification, and the age and
sex of each animal;

††††† (b) A record for each purchased or
natural addition to the herd including:

††††† 1. The official identification number,
species, age, and sex of the cervid;

††††† 2. The name and address of the person
from whom the cervid was purchased;

††††† 3. The address of the herd from which the
cervid was purchased;

††††† 4. A copy of the Certificate of
Veterinary Inspection that accompanied the animal for intra- or interstate
movement;

††††† 5. Date the purchased addition entered
the herd; and

††††† 6. Approximate date of birth if a natural
addition;

††††† (c) A record of each cervid leaving the
herd including:

††††† 1. If the cervid died on the premises,
the date of death, the apparent cause of death, the cervid's age, sex, and
state-federal official individual animal identification, date and laboratory
submitted for CWD testing, if required, and the disposition of the cervid's
carcass. If the carcass left the premises, the record shall identify the
carcass destination and recipient; and

††††† 2. If the cervid was killed by harvest,
the date, name, and address of the hunter, the disposition of the carcass, and
CWD testing information;

††††† (d) A record of all CWD individual animal
tests conducted on cervids in the herd;

††††† (e) Records received from the herd
veterinarian related to veterinary services provided to the herd;

††††† (8) All removals and deaths shall be
reported monthly to the state veterinarian.

††††† (9) All untagged animals that die or are
killed shall be identified with an official identification device and shall be
tested for CWD and shall be reported to the state veterinarian.

††††† (10) Animal inventory.

††††† (a) To enroll a herd in the HMP, the
owner shall conduct a physical inventory of all animals to establish the
baseline herd inventory. The physical inventory shall be conducted with a
representative of the State Veterinarian and shall verify all animal
identification and records.

††††† (b) An annual herd census shall be
conducted by the owner and a representative of the office of the state
veterinarian that reviews all records and includes observation of unrestrained
animals in an enclosed area.

††††† (c) The state veterinarian or APHIS
representative may request additional physical inventories to verify herd
compliance with program standards.

††††† (11) Cervids twelve (12) months and older
in the following categories that die shall be made available for tissue
sampling and testing in accordance with instructions from the APHIS or state
representative:

††††† 1. All cervids that are not officially
identified;

††††† 2. All cervids that die for any reason
other than harvest; and

††††† 3. The first ten (10) cervids that are
harvested within a calendar year.

††††† (12) The owner shall be responsible for
assembling, handling, and restraining the animals and for all costs incurred to
present the animals for inspection.

††††† Section 7. HMP Permit. (1) A HMP permit
shall be required to participate in the program. The applicant shall submit the
following:

††††† (a) A permit application contained in the
CCWDSI Herd Certification Program and Herd Monitoring Program application
packet;

††††† (b) A written statement by a Kentucky
licensed and accredited veterinarian, certifying that the veterinarian and the
herd owner have a valid veterinarian-client relationship; and

††††† (c) A fee of $150.

††††† (2) The department shall grant or deny a
permit within thirty (30) days after the department receives the completed
application package with the required fee.

††††† (3) After the permit is issued, the
participant shall enroll his herd into the HMP as follows:

††††† (a) Submit a permit renewal application
thirty (30) days prior to the expiration of the prior year's permit;

††††† (b) Pay a $150 renewal fee; and

††††† (c) Make all animals and records
available to the State Veterinarian.

††††† (2) Facilities that have met the
requirements in Sections 6 through 8 of this administrative regulation shall
receive a renewal permit.

††††† Section 9. Intrastate Movement
Requirements. (1) All intrastate movements of cervids, other than to a state-
federal-inspected slaughter establishment, shall be accompanied by an
intrastate movement Certificate of Veterinary Inspection signed by a licensed
and accredited veterinarian in accordance with 302 KAR 20:065.

††††† (2) The intrastate movement certificate
shall include the following:

††††† (2) A diagnosis of CWD by an approved
laboratory shall be confirmed by the National Veterinary Service Laboratory.

††††† (3) If required tissues from test
eligible cervids are not submitted for laboratory diagnosis, the state
veterinarian shall reevaluate the status of the herd.

††††† Section 12. Investigation of Cervid
CWD-positive Animals. (1) An epidemiological investigation in accordance with 9
C.F.R. 55.23 shall be conducted for all animals diagnosed at an approved laboratory
as CWD positive or suspect.

††††† (2) All positive herds and all source,
exposed, and adjacent herds shall be investigated epidemiologically.

††††† (3) All positive herds and premises and
all source, exposed, and adjacent herds and premises shall be quarantined.

††††† Section 13. Duration of Quarantine.
Quarantines placed in accordance with this administrative regulation shall be
removed as follows:

††††† (1) A premises may be removed from
quarantine after completion of the herd plan and five (5) years of compliance
with all provisions of 9 C.F.R. Part 55.

††††† (2) An adjacent or exposed herd or premises
may be removed from quarantine only after an epidemiological investigation and
by order of the designated epidemiologist.

††††† Section 14. Penalties. (1) Penalties for
failure to comply with standards established in this administrative regulation
for the CCWDSI HCP or HMP.

††††† (a) The department may, pursuant to KRS
Chapter 257, revoke or suspend a herd's permit for the HCP or the HMP if:

††††† 1. A person falsifies information on an
enrollment application, or falsifies subsequent information required for
continued enrollment;

††††† 2. A person fails to comply with
requirements in this administrative regulation on animal identification, animal
inventory, herd records, CWD testing, or animal movement; or

††††† 3. A person or facility fails to remain
in compliance with KDFWR statutes and administrative regulations.

††††† (b) In accordance with KRS 257.990, a
permit holder may be subject to a fine for violation of this administrative
regulation.

††††† (c) Any person who violates Section
5(1)(b) or Section 8(1)(b) of this administrative regulation by making an
untimely payment of a renewal fee, shall be charged a penalty of ten (10)
percent and shall be required to pay this penalty in addition to the original
renewal fee.

††††† 1. The original renewal fee and penalties
shall be compounded by ten (10) percent monthly until paid in full; and

††††† 2. Any renewal fee and penalties
remaining unpaid for three (3) successive months may result in a permit
revocation.

††††† (2) Penalties for failure to comply with
Section 10 of this administrative regulation, Requirements for Entry into
Kentucky.

††††† (a) In accordance with KRS 150.740(6), a
person shall be guilty of a Class D felony upon conviction for violating
Section 10 of this administrative regulation.

††††† (b) Upon conviction of a second violation
of Section 10 of this administrative regulation and in addition to all other
penalties, a person shall be permanently ineligible for renewal of a captive
cervid permit.

††††† (3) In accordance with KRS 150.740(7),
the KDFWR may seize captive cervids that have been imported into the
Commonwealth contrary to this administrative regulation and KRS 150.740 and
257.550.

††††† (4) In accordance with KRS 150.740(8),
the KDFWR may seize and destroy captive cervids that are in the process of
being imported into the Commonwealth contrary this administrative regulation
and KRS 150.740 and 257.550.